In 1880, Joseph Langevin and his wife Cordelie were listed on a census page…

Joseph Langevin, 30 years-old, was a carpenter born in Canada. His father and mother were also born there. Cordelie, who was also 30, was keeping house and was taking care of Cordelia and Regina.

The census tells us that both these little girls were born in Rhode Island.

My little grey cells began working again as usual when I saw the name Joseph Cadieux as the next door neighbour.

Could he have been Cordelie’s brother?

And what was his wife Armeline’s maiden name?

And who was the little boy Athanase 5 months-old born in January?

So many questions!

But the other neighbour Nazaire Bessette had all the answers!

Nazaire Bessette was married to Osithe Lanoue.

Both are now resting in peace with two daughters Azilda and Delia…

Nazaire’s mother was Théotiste Cadieux, the sister of Étienne Cadieux. That I know.

They were both children of Laurent Cadieux and Catherine Gilbert.

I found an Étienne Cadieux listed as the father of a Joseph Cadieux in the 1891 Canadian census. This Étienne Cadieux was living with his son Joseph. Joseph Cadieux’s wife was Hermeline with their son Athanase 11 years-old.

I had found the missing links.

Hermeline was Hermeline Bessette, Nazaire’s daughter.

Cordelie Cadieux, wife of Joseph Langevin, was the daughter of Étienne Cadieux and Marie Jasmin married 27 February 1843 in Marieville, Quebec.

I was not able to find Cordelie Cadieux in the 1852 Canadian census, nor in the 1861 or the 1871 Canadian censuses. Étienne Cadieux and Marie Jasmin probably emigrated to the United States in the 1840s.

That I will never know for sure…

What I am sure though is that Étienne Cadieux, 65 years-old, was a boarder in 1885 in someone’s family…

Many of us are interested in where our families come from as well as who our ancestors were. What and where are our ‘roots’? Some of you might even have researched your genealogy or family history. Yet have you ever seriously considered how many direct ancestors you really have? Obviously it’s a lot, but how many? You might have even heard statements to the effect that all Europeans are descendants of Charlemagne in the eighth century or that all people of English ancestry are descended from 86% of the people living in England at the time of William the Conqueror almost a thousand years ago. If you live in North America and have English or European ancestors the same questions apply. Indeed wherever you live and whatever your ethnic ancestry the questions of descent and ancestry are the same. This short article attempts, in a non-mathematical way, to answer or at…

People in fact die when nobody remembers them by. This is one reason we place headstones to remember them like this one…

I try hard to remember all my ancestors. I try even harder when I look for strangers’ ancestors like Cordelia Cadieux. I am sure I have found who she was.

A second cousin four times removed.

Call it luck if you want, I call it presumption.

I have used a lot of presumption in this mission starting by who were listed on that census page taken from a census done in 1880.

Joseph Langevin, his wife Cordelie, their two daughters Cordelia and Regina, the people I presume François is looking for.

Having no marriage certificate to know who were the parents of Joseph Langevin and Cordelie Cadieux, I tried to find some clues by looking at who were their neighbours especially Joseph Cadieux and Nazaire Bessette…